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March 12, 2013

Snow Dyeing - A Tutorial

I know there are LOTS of tutorials on the web about snow dyeing but when I decided to do some snow dyeing last week I thought I'd also share my process and talk about alternative methods.

Of course I start with fabric! It is soda soaked for 10 - 15 minutes. I squeese out the excess liquid and arrange the fabric in a bin. I never start with dry soda-soaked fabric because around here we just don't have that much planning time with snow.

Many people put their fabric on a screen of some sort over a sink or bin so that the melted snow drips through instead of having the fabric sit in the water. Either way works. My way is the lazy way.

Next pile on the snow. I generally pile snow to the top of the container and then pour dye over the snow. In my experience snow dyeing requires more dye than regular dyeing because the batching temperature is so low. I don't actually do a lot of snow dyeing because I think it's a bit wasteful but it's a great use for some of my old dye mixes and that's what I used here.

Some people use dye powder on top of the snow and that works great too. I take the warnings about dye powder seriously so I avoid using them except to mix dye concentrates. If you are going to use dye powder directly on the snow be sure to use a respirator.

Here's how the fabric looks as the snow starts to melt.

Here's how they looked after a few hours. I left the bins in my basement (which is about 60 degrees) for 24 hours and then washed them out using my normal process.

Here are the fabrics and I'm really happy with all of them. The black fabric in front is my favorite.

We only get snow here about once year so I'll just hope for another snow storm for another dye session next year.

Comments

I did a bunch of snow dyeing this year and absoltuely loved the results. I also just had it sit in the water while it melted. If it snows one more time, I think I will do another batch- snow dyeing is just too much fun, and you can't do it in the summer!

Did you fold your fabric in special ways to 'help' the design a long? The one has such a pronounced spiral, and it looks beautiful.

They turned out great! I've been enjoying snow dyed fabrics from many bloggers this year and every time I see them I think I should try it. We certainly get plenty of snow. But I think I've realized the main reason why I don't do it.....laziness! It looks like too much work I guess. :)